The blood-red rocks and strange stone-formations around him appeared sick and dying, cracks had formed all over in the stone, giving an alarming sense that they were about to break under their very feet.

He stood at the face of a pointy red cliff hanging over a dark abyss, his breath unsteady and trembling, tired and beaten. Scattered across the stones lay Death Eaters, unmoving, dead.

Was this truly the only way? After all they had gone through, this is how it would end? Maybe it was for the best. He was tired, oh so tired of his own curse, being trapped as a werewolf – and his transformations had been getting worse with every passing week.

Hastily he looked over his shoulder at his wife approaching him from behind, who was out of breath and weary, about to collapse and almost crawling along the ground out of pure exhaustion.

"Remus!" yelled Dora. "There has to be another way, please."

"There isn't", whispered Remus, in his hand he held a locket with a picture of his newborn son Teddy. "Albus told us to trust Harry. He's the best hope we've got."

"With our lives?" she said, stopping to stand by his side.

Remus' heart sunk. A painful "Yes", left his lips.

Dora hardly cried, but now she did. "Remus, think about Ted!"

"I do. And if he's going to live – if everyone is going to live – this is the way it has to be."

"No, it doesn't!"

Remus stared into the void underneath him, his mind accepting his fate.

"I've already made up my mind, Dora", he said slowly. A relieved breath escaped his mouth and he looked at his wife with a smile. "Tell Ted I love him."

He let go of his wand – it hit the stones with a wooden clank – and let himself gradually lean over the edge of the cliff.

"No!" Dora yelled, her hand grasping after his coat.

He did not expect her to actually grab him in time, but she did, and his body filled with an ice cold feeling as their feet shuffled around each other and somehow, she switched places with him. Remus was pushed back onto the red stones and raised his head just to see Dora fall in his place.

His attempt to rush to her was completely in vain. The abyss had swallowed her, and where she had stood, there now was a small orange Stone.

Gripping the accursed Stone in one hand, he howled and screamed down into the abyss – an indescribable pain drumming through his very being. The pain was too much to bear; his face was pressed against the edges of the red cliff; all of his energy had left him.

This wouldn't have happened if Harry hadn't caused all of it in the first place. Damn that Harry Potter.

He had killed his wife, the mother of his child and the only person that truly accepted him for what he was.

Awfully early next day, just as the summer sun had gone up, Harry woke up to a lonely bed, next to him lay instead a set of clean and folded clothes. The window was open, letting a light breeze wafting the salty sea air inside, the early sun casting a dim light inside.

Harry looked to the pillow beside him, reached out his hand and touched it; he was already missing Hermione's warmth, the previous night still a fresh memory that was very much worth holding onto.

From one of the beds, Ron's loud snoring reverbed through the room, making a chance at falling asleep again close to impossible. He might as well get up. Sleeping with this noise would be impossible.

Luna's and Ginny's beds were empty however, so they must be already be awake. As he casted the blanket aside and stood up, he had a strange feeling that his dreams had been horrible, but he couldn't remember what it had been about.

He shrugged, got dressed and as he slightly drowsily walked out towards the kitchen, he got overwhelmed by the aroma of freshly cooked food. By the stove stood mrs Weasley, nervously keeping several pots and pans cooking and stirring the food all at once. On the kitchen table stood an unfinished wedding cake. No one else besides her was in here.

Harry cleared his throat. "Good morning mrs Weasley."

Mrs Weasley jumped and turned around. "Oh Harry! You gave me a fright there. Good morning!"

"We're having dinner already?" asked Harry.

"No, no – I just like to be prepared ahead of time", smiled mrs Weasley.

"You need help?" asked Harry.

"That's sweet of you but no, you go and join everyone else outside for breakfast, Harry", said mrs Weasley.

Harry nodded and awkwardly left the kitchen, heading towards the door, letting it swing open to the outside where almost everyone, excluding Ron, Pete and Bill sat on benches by a dinner table placed a bit away from the door.

Peter was loudly explaining something to Xenophilius who attentively clung to every word, nodding in agreement from time to time. Hermione and Ginny were whispering and giggling – hopefully not about last night. Luna was as usually very simple, caught her in own world and eating boiled eggs in a very peculiar way.

As soon as she spotted him, Hermione beamed at him and right as he sat down, cuddled up to him, hugging his left arm, her way of telling him good morning.

He could sense her excitement, but also feel the shakiness trembling through her body as it was pressed against him.

"Morning", said Peter, newly awake, his hair ruffled but his face didn't look tired at all.

"Morning", Harry said with a drowsy nod. "Sleep well?"

"Sure, aside from Xenophilius growling in his sleep, not gonna lie that was slightly terrifying actually – but it can't be helped. What about you?"

Harry caught Ginny's eye. She was grinning at him.

"Good – great actually."

"I bet", said Ginny.

Peter frowned with a hint of a smile in his face. "You know something no one else does? You don't stare at people while they're asleep, right? Because I mean – that would be terrifying."

"No, and unlike you I don't stalk people", said Ginny.

Peter threw up his hands, laughing. "I don't stalk people! I-I make sure they're safe, then I leave, you know, keep your friends and loved ones away from harm—wait, that's normal, isn't it?"

He looked at Harry for confirmation, his smile diminishing.

"Sometimes", said Harry, Hermione turned her head to him with a raised eyebrow. "Just—don't give me that look, Hermione! I'm not stalking anyone, I'm just making sure people I care about are safe, and most of the time I don't want to disturb their lives so I check in on them from far away, that's all it is!"

"Uh-huh", Ginny didn't seem very convinced.

"How many times have you been doing that?" said Hermione, glancing with intrigue at Harry.

"I don't have energy to argue this early, Hermione", Harry groaned, feeling slightly put on the spot. "I suppose any time I'm not doing something else?"

Luna looked up from her boiled egg and smiled at him, then her eyes went back to her egg.

Hermione leaned her elbow against the table, placing her chin in her hand, seemingly in deep thought.

Peter made a sort of swallowing choking noise and shook his head violently.

"That's just disturbing, man", said Peter and lowered his voice to a whisper, making a sort of gesture with his hand. "A little tip, don't stick around. In and out. Otherwise, it becomes very stalker-ish."

"I think we've gotta agree, don't you Fred? We didn't know you were this Spider -Guy until a few weeks ago, but to us you seem like the villain", said George, grinning.

Fred continued, he too grinning, "Because you following us, invading our private life, makes us feel uncomfortable and unsafe. We might see each other in court. At best, you'll get a restraining order and lose all of your possession. Good day, sir!"

Maybe because it was so early, or maybe because it was just Fred and George being their usual selves, Harry's brain didn't process half of what they said to him, leaving him baffled.

As soon as breakfast was done with, they went to work with the wedding preparations at once, and although people kept telling him to go and relax, or as Fred and George put it – prepare for the storm – Harry insisted on lending a hand.

First, he helped the Weasley boys with setting up a giant white party tent on the big flat cliff overlooking the sea, and honestly, he felt more useful doing something rather than waiting around.

Although Hermione didn't help and kept her distance, her eyes mostly stuck to the pages of a book, Harry still felt her comforting presence. Occasionally she looked up, casting Harry a smile, and he smiled back.

Next task was to place out all of the chairs and tables where the food and drinks would go. After setting the tables, mrs Weasley called them in to the kitchen and handed everyone but Harry their dresses and robes.

"This is what I have to wear?" said Ron in an almost earsplitting voice, staring at the dark purple robes with a black collar hanging in his hands and an extravagant flower pattern in black covering the entirety of it, the color of the robes themselves were almost bordering on black but not quite.

"It looks fine", said Harry with a frown, not noticing anything inherently wrong with it.

If anything, it looked a bit too fancy for Ron – maybe it would fit better on someone like Luna's dad or even mr Weasley.

Mrs Weasley chuckled nervously. "Sorry Ron, limited supply – I can change the color if you want."

"Then make it black, hide these patterns. I don't want to be mistaken for my aunt Muriel again."

"You can't wear black! It has to be colorful!" said Ginny, grinning mockingly at her brother.

"Who says it can't be black?"

Ginny groaned.

Mrs Weasley didn't allow anyone to touch the cake though, hardly Fleur was allowed to help with it, so instead they just watched the spectacle of a massive wedding cake being baked with remarkable ease using magic.

A half an hour or so later, Hermione's parents, Percy and Charlie appeared through apparating with mr Weasley – Lupin nor Tonks anywhere to be seen. Harry overheard from mr Weasley's conversation with Percy that Lupin and Tonks were unreachable for some unknown reason, same for the Avengers, Moody and Shacklebolt.

What had happened?

Harry wanted to ask but the preparations had to keep going.

Decorations were spread about around the party tent and its surroundings, among them colorful balloons and a large arc wrapped in a multitude of colored roses and peonies.

Fleur was very intent on making sure Harry understood what he was supposed to do.

"Under zis, ze groom will wait 'ere for ze bride", Fleur explained to Harry, with an air of condescension, as if she believed to be talking to a five-year-old. "You understand, oui, 'arry? When ze bride is brought to you, you take 'er. I assume you understand."

Harry looked at her, feeling a bit wounded by her condescending tone. "I will stand on this spot and hold her hand, noted."

"Non non non! Not just 'old 'er 'and, you 'ave to make a spectacle of eet, you 'ave to lift 'er up and speen around! Whatever comes naturally."

Harry doubted; was that true or was that just something Fleur came up with to mess with him?

"I will try", he said, confused about why it had to be so fancy. They weren't going to compete in The Fanciest British Weddings in the Wizarding World or something – right?

Couldn't they just kiss, eat the cake and dance until their feet fell off – or was that too simple?

Fleur kept explaining to him about how important it was for him to get it right and not fumble, she talked about it so much that Harry almost wished to be lectured by Hermione.

Speaking of Hermione, she had been hanging around all morning, but now when they were done setting the most important parts up, she was nowhere to be seen, and now the day was already minutes away from afternoon.

He looked around but not the slightest sight of her. Where in the world had she gone off to?

He didn't get a proper answer even if he repeatedly asked around, mostly giggles and shrugs, which started to get annoying but there had to be a reason so after a while he played along.

The most he got was out of Ron. "I saw her, mum and your aunt vanish into one of the bedrooms earlier, no one is allowed to go in there. I have no idea what they're up to, Ginny said she might be getting help with her dress. Then again, Ginny is a little scoundrel and I wouldn't trust her as far as I would be able to throw Fred or George. By the way, dad asked for you earlier. You should probably go and find him; I think he's down by the beach with Hermione's parents."

He hadn't noticed it at first, but he saw now that Ron was wearing the same robes he had been handed, but dark green. The black flower patterns still stuck out like a sore thumb though.

As Harry walked around to get a feel for everything, from the chairs to the stupid flowery arc, he felt excited and the same time intimidated as more and more people around him were showing up in their colorful and festive clothes while he was stuck with a set of regular everyday clothes more than likely borrowed from Bill.

"I've been zhinking; is zis really ze time to be celebrating?" he overheard Fleur say, talking to Bill. "I zink 'arry and 'ermione are being very reckless. You don't zee us getting married during ze end of ze world, hm?"

"I don't understand it either, but if it's what they want to do…", said Bill before trailing off into a completely different conversation with Xenophilius.

Harry somehow embarrassingly found himself hanging around the flowery arc for a bit longer than he'd like; he hadn't noticed how much he had been walking back and forth. Ginny shot him a smile and a wink. Harry left awkwardly in a hurry to find mr Weasley.

It didn't take a lot of time to find him, where he stood near the water together with Hermione's parents, happily listening to them describe the traditions of a Muggle wedding. Harry stopped by the three of them, the anxiety in his chest expanding at the sight of the Grangers.

Both of them were already dressed for the occasion; Mr Granger was dressed in a fairly standard dark blue tux with a tie in the same color, mrs Granger in a matching dress.

Mr Granger immediately reached out to shake his hand. "Hi, Harry. How are you?"

They smiled widely at him, mrs Granger in particular appeared happy to see him.

"I'm great. What about you?" he shook mrs Granger's hand too. The slow creeping feeling of realization reached Harry's chest.

He was about to get married. To Hermione. The girl he hadn't thought much of when he met her all those years ago on the Hogwarts Express.

"Good, considering we didn't know about a wedding until today", said mr Granger.

Harry felt a substantial torrent of nervosity spreading through his throat, chest, arms and down to his legs. He didn't know what to do with his hands – putting them in his pockets would look way too casual and maybe even offend the Grangers.

Where was his usual confidence? In the trash somewhere along with his ruined suit?

"Sorry if it caused any problems", said Harry.

A thought struck Harry's mind; were they even aware of what was happening to all of reality in this moment?

Mrs Granger laughed, and waved her hand. "Don't be! We've always supported Hermione's decisions and if she believes this is the right time – well, it's the right time."

Except it really wasn't and maybe some truth lied in what Fleur had said. They definitely were rushing this; it was the whole point.

Maybe he should just rush into the cottage, find Hermione and tell her he had changed his mind.

Seeing as they both were dentists and presumably found themselves face to face with people all day long, Harry suspected they saw the pure fear screaming out of his very being as mrs Granger's expression said how very sorry she was for what she had just said. "Don't listen to us though. We're happy for you two, we just never expected a marriage this soon!"

Mr Weasley cleared his throat.

"Ah mr Granger, mrs Granger – it was truly fascinating to speak with you, but now I think it's time for Harry to get ready. It's a big day after all!" said mr Weasley with what clearly was forced enthusiasm and just as a forced laugh.

With a steady hand on Harry's shoulder, mr Weasley led him into the cottage and into one of the empty bedrooms.

"Just a moment, Harry", he held his palm up to Harry, signaling him to stay while he rushed back out again.

He came back in with Bill, Ron, Fleur and Peter – a strange combination, Harry thought – they too already dressed up. The contrast between the three of them was astounding; Bill wore a sleek, royal purple robe that would stick out even in the wizarding world, Fleur a crystal white, sparkling dress, while Peter had settled for more of a typical Muggle look in a grey buttoned-up coat with a grey tie, white shirt, grey pants and black shoes, his hair was combed in much more slick way than it used to be.

Peter didn't look like he was going to a wedding, more like he was heading out for a business meeting or at best a date.

"That's a cute outfit", Harry smirked.

Peter laughed. "Shut up. I know, I know! I considered wearing my other suit but I realized I wasn't attending a costume party. This will have to do", he said with a wide grin.

Mr Weasley looked at Fleur, Ron, Bill and Peter. "I'm going to have you three – sorry, four – help Harry getting all set. Molly is busy, and the wedding starts in about four hours so you will have to do", he glanced nervously on his watch. "Fleur – I trust that Molly gave you all the details."

"She did, in fact. Don't worry, I will turn zis petit boy into a charmant young man", said Fleur confidently with a wide smile on her lips.

Harry didn't like how she called him 'petit' – actually, he hated it.

"Then I'll leave it to you, but you could use the boys' input. Especially from the best man himself", mr Weasley said, giving a sneaky wink to Ron. "And when you're done, Harry, meet me on the hill under the arc. Are you anxious? Good! You should be, it's your wedding day after all."

Harry nodded, but secretly he really wanted to burn that stupid arc.

And anxious wasn't even really the word for it. Numb, maybe, memories with Hermione flooding through his mind, afraid that this wedding was nothing but a distraction from their lives and the impending doom and that their marriage would end in disaster.

Mr Weasley gave Harry an assuring pat on his shoulder and left the five of them alone, the door shutting behind him.

Sparing no time, Fleur went to work on Harry and his clothes which was nothing sort of a nightmare as Fleur wanted it to be as perfect as possible.

The entire duration as she messed with his hair, his face, hands and clothes he felt like he was a cake she was decorating and not for eating.

Fleur wanted him to look as perfect as possible, complaining that his knuckles looked funny, brushing his face with something that was hardly noticeable against his skin, pulling and dragging his hair with a comb and some kind of perfume-smelling jelly, and making sure every wrinkle on his robes were vanquished.

Bill and Peter occasionally butted in to voice their opinion, Ron however just watched in silence.

Seeing himself slowly transform in the full body mirror on the wall made him wonder who really stood here, letting himself being dressed up like some little girl's doll. It kind of scared him.

The most he had dressed up had been for the Yule Ball years ago, and that hadn't even been much – this made him feel like an alien coming down from outer space in his space ship to hold an all year-long party with his new Earth mates.

The final result however wasn't too bad, in fact, he looked kind of slick – like a different person; his black hair had been combed over and his face as smooth and clean as the surface of a polished stone, he wore a sleek buttoned up dark blue robe with a matching tie and pants, the robe just about reaching over his backside, a white shirt underneath the robes, and the black uncomfortable shoes he wore must've been the fanciest shoes he ever had put on.

Fleur desperately wanted to take away his glasses, stating that he would look much better without them, but he right out refused because he preferred to be able to see.

Harry walked out of the cottage, closely followed by Ron while the others hung back, feeling odd and strange, not really like himself, like his brain had been punched around for a few hours and it was finally given a rest.

"You okay, mate?" said Ron. He seemed awfully cool about all of this, but then again, it wasn't Ron that was getting married. "You look a bit pale."

"No", Harry answered truthfully. "I am scared to death."

The words didn't even seem like his own words, but someone else's. His shaking legs carried him back up the hill, past the party tent and to the arc where mr Weasley waited. Ron stood with them too under the arc, his hands locked to his lower stomach.

As they had been picked to be bridesmaids, Ginny and Luna were nowhere to be seen amongst the excited crowd taking their seats.

So many eyes were focused on Harry, smiling faces beaming at him. His head was spinning, and he felt an extreme sense of nausea coming over him. All he heard was the blood pumping in his ears and his own breaths.

Harry didn't know if he was going to faint, a few times he felt like he lost all control over his body and if he wasn't careful his wiggling body could fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. The combined anxiety and excitement was practically destroying him; his body actually wanted to keel over, his soul cease to exist. He was being crushed and there was nothing he could do.

He assumed he blacked out at least once since both Ron and mr Weasley held out their arms to keep him from falling over.

"I'll get you some water", whispered Ron and hastily snuck away to the tent.

Harry nodded.

He blinked hard a few times and shook his head. He really didn't want to pass out at a wedding of all things.

Ron came back with a tall glass of water and handed him it. Harry turned his back to the audience and gulped it down gratefully. He took a deep breath, handed the glass back to Ron and turned back around. What a fat load of help his powers did him now.

His eyes wandered across the audience, he saw both Peter's in the crowd and wondered when Pete had showed up, he saw the rest of the Weasleys except Ginny in a neat row including mrs Weasley, Xenophilius and Ollivander sat next to a very grumpy and unenthusiastic Draco who hadn't even bothered to change his clothes – honestly it didn't make much sense why he was sitting there, maybe he felt obligated because Spider-Man had saved his life.

But there were so many more missing and that he felt should be here, like Hagrid, Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Tony and most of the people that had been in the D.A.

His gaze locked onto aunt Petunia, who sat on the front row next to mrs Granger and gave him a thumbs up, mouthing silently, "You're doing great".

Mr Weasley straightened himself and cleared his throat.

"Here she comes", said mr Weasley in a low voice.

Harry's mouth involuntarily made a sort of gasping noise as he laid his eyes on the small assembly heading their way. He did his damndest to appear as relaxed as possible while in reality he was having a nervous breakdown.

Indeed, with both Ginny and Luna by her side as the bridesmaids, each of them holding a bouquet of lilacs and hydrangeas, her father was leading her, Hermione was being brought up the hill, dragging a low-cut white fluffy dress in silk across the ground, her brown hair practically sparkling, flowing in seamless curls down over her left shoulder.

A muscle twitched in Harry's jaw. She looked unbelievable; it seemed as if a bright light followed her while she approached him, blinding him, her face exuberated of a warm, sort of rosy radiance.

Hermione, her father and the bridesmaids slowed down right in front of the flowery arc. Her lips formed into a very shy smile as their eyes met. He couldn't help himself from smiling back, and in some bizarre way he felt a sliver of confidence coming back to him. The butterflies in his stomach were fluttering violently, his heart like a drum echoing in his ears.

Mr Granger walked forward, handing over Hermione to him.

Dumbfounded, Harry felt himself being pulled out the back of his skull for just a moment as he took her hand, before snapping back to reality.

"Hi", she whispered shyly, beaming ecstatically at him.

"Hi", he whispered back, or at least he intended to, because it sounded more like a croak.

He looked at her; she was almost unrecognizable from the Hermione that just a few hours ago had kept herself away and instead rather keep her head in a pile of books.

Fleur's words echoed in his words about making it a spectacle. But why? His mouth was dry, the word spectacle becoming louder in his ears, Hermione was anxiously waiting for him to make his move.

Spectacle, spectacle, spectacle—Spider-Man could make a spectacle out of almost anything all the time – why was it so hard to do a simple spin in this moment?

Harry breathed in, and out, let his hands slip down to her waist and lifted her up as high as he possibly could and spun around with her on the spot, tiny blue sparks flying about her dress; Harry just went along for the ride, feeling like the biggest idiot there, but Hermione was laughing as they twirled around.

As he let a slightly dizzy Hermione spiral down back towards the ground, her hands grasping his, he still wondered if Fleur had just pranked him or if that was actually part of the tradition; a loud applause followed, so he must have done something right.

Harry turned his gaze to Mr Weasley who was standing with his hands crossed on his stomach, smiled and cleared his throat, wand at the ready.

They weren't going to have a duel too, were they? Would they not get married of Hermione beat him in a duel or something? Maybe he should just call it off right here? He wouldn't stand a chance against Hermione, unless he used his powers.

The silly thought left his mind as mrs Weasley started to speak, his wand pointing at his throat. Harry's eyes were intent on not swaying away from Hermione's, drowning in her being.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have gathered here to witness the unification of two souls."

Mr Weasley kept talking, but the only thing that existed to Harry was Hermione's face, and his voice sounded muffled and far-away. The anxiety he had felt waiting for this moment had flooded away, all his attention was on her and her eyes.

This was one of the rare moments when Harry felt like he was a completely normal person, having a completely normal wedding with the person he loved above all else.

Harry phased back to reality, mr Weasley's voice again reaching his ears.

"And even champions needs their own hero. Courageous, self-sacrificing people, setting examples for all of us."

Harry turned his head slightly, glancing at mr Weasley. Well, that was one way to interpret it.

"Everybody loves a hero; people line up for the, cheer them, shout their names. And years later, they'll tell the story of how they stood in the rain for hours on end just to get a small glimpse of the one who taught them how to hold on for a bit longer."

The sounds of sobbing and noses being blown could be heard from the audience.

"When we're lonely and at our worst, we should be wise to remember that there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to stand steady, and give up the things we want the most. Even our dreams. What's coming will come, and you'll meet it together when it does, no matter how great the sacrifice."

Somewhere in the crowd Harry could hear aunt Petunia wailing her lungs out.

"Therefore, knowing these terms – Harry James Potter, will you take Hermione Jean Granger?"

For a second, Harry didn't understand the question. Feeling really dumb, he looked from Hermione to mr Weasley and back to Hermione, just to stare at her. God, she was beautiful, he thought, the sun only bringing out more of her beauty.

"Harry?" said Hermione unsurely.

Harry blinked a few times, the question finally making sense to him. "I do, yes."

Hermione's hands were shaking with anticipation.

"Then, do you Hermione Jean Granger take Harry James Potter?"

There was no hesitation when Hermione spoke. "I do!"

"Well then, I declare you both husband and wife – that's your cue to kiss."

Hermione more or less launched her own mouth against Harry's, almost knocking him over in her haste. Harry's heart fluttered in an odd way.

Their arms wrapped around each other, their bodies rubbed a bit too much together and a tiny firework was sent exploding somewhere above their heads combined with the cheering and applause from the crowd.

The world had stopped for them, just for a second. A very long second, that Harry wished would never end. Harry's head was spinning, too many thoughts and emotions in his head at once.

Hermione giggled when they at last pulled back from each other – the first thing Harry saw was Hermione's delighted, very red face.

A heavy weight had dropped off his shoulders. He could hardly believe it; him, married. It had seemed impossible last year and now here they were standing, him her husband and she, his wife.

And apparently Hermione couldn't believe it either, her giggling shifting into a hysterical laugh mixed with tears.

Ron's arm extended seemingly from nowhere, handing Harry a napkin which he passed on to Hermione.

"Thank you", said Hermione in-between fits of laughter.

Knowing that Hermione hated being carried – didn't matter in which way, she still hated it – so instead of carrying her away in his arms like he had seen in various movies he had watched over the years, he embraced her in a hug, she hugging him back.

The sobbing, clapping and Hermione's fluctuating emotions went on for a good while, it didn't stop until mr Weasley sent another firework up into the air. The sobbing from the audience turned into excited chatter.

Harry let go of Hermione, she had stopped laughing but was still very much smiling. Harry lifted a hand and hastily wiped a few tears from her face. A few scattered

He was relieved to finally be able to breathe properly.

"I believe it's time for cake and dinner!" said mr Weasley. "Let the married couple go first, Ron."

They walked off to the tent, hands interlocked, Ron and everyone else soon followed. At the middle of the tent stood a big and white circular table, in the middle of it the cake, surrounded by a whole collection of various food, deserts, snacks and drinks – all that were Hermione's and Harry's favorites. Harry hadn't seen this earlier during the day, suspecting that it had been brought it up when he was getting changed.

Besides for the dinner tables, there was a massive dancefloor and what looked like a collection of several instruments leaning against a lonely chair.

Hermione drew her wand, getting two plates to graciously hover to her; she did the same with the food to get it on their plates. The world felt odd, unbalanced, even more so than usual – was this really his life he was living or had he stolen the body of someone else?

Did he really deserve such happiness after all he had caused?

"So, how does it feel mate?" grinned Ron, he too helping himself to the food.

Harry shook his head, his gaze fixated on the deserts. "Strange and confusing. Don't get married, Ron – for your own health. I think I aged a few hundred years."

Ron grinned.

"You did look a bit queasy", said Hermione with a short chuckle. "Come on Harry, let's find a seat."

"Sure."

Harry followed her to a table and sat down next to her.

The tables soon enough filled up with people and quickly became crowded, even though it was a very small wedding and not everyone Harry had wished to invite were there.

Joining in on at least three conversations at once and being in the company of friends and family, Harry more or less forgot about anything else plaguing his mind, only for it to crop up for a few seconds at a time and disappear right away.

A sudden commotion made everyone look up from their plates, a loud voice booming and shouting. It was impossible to miss who was making such a ruckus, the massive stature of Hagrid towering above everything else, barely fitting under the tent and had to crouch to not tearing it up from the ground.

Hagrid was surrounded by a lot of people, which Harry recognized from the D.A days, including Neville, Cho Chang, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Colin and his little brother Dennis Creevey, Lavender Brown and the two Patil twins.

Seeing how many more had arrived for their sake – at least fifteen, seventeen people – Harry felt it was his responsibility to greet them, and proceeded to put down his food for just a moment, signaling Hermione to do the same.

"Where did they come from?" she asked, looking confused, putting down her utensils and hastily patting a napkin around her mouth.

"No idea", Harry answered, because honestly, he was just as confused as everyone else.

They rushed out of their chairs to greet Hagrid and the others.

"Hagrid?" said Harry.

"Oh, there yeh are, Harry!" boomed Hagrid as they approached him, holding each other's hands. "An' Hermione! I barely recognized yeh!" Hagrid said, and gave away a loud sniff, wiping away a tear from his eye. "Look at the both o' ye, all grown up."

His big hands fiddled with a handkerchief in the size of a table-cloth, followed by a deafening trumpet noise.

"I'm sorry. I jus get so emotional. Ah come here!" Hagrid swiped them both into a bone-crushing hug. Hagrid smelled like a strange amalgamation of flowers, slightly stinging in Harry's nose – probably an attempt to smell good.

When Hagrid finally had let them go, Harry could finally breathe again. "What are you doing here, Hagrid?"

Hagrid scoffed. "Well, if yeh had thought o' inviting me, I would've bin here in the firs' place!"

"I'm so sorry, Hagrid!" said Hermione. "It happened so quickly, and with everything going on with – well you know, the world, we thought it would be safer to have a smaller gathering."

Hagrid shook his head. "I'm jus happy tha' yeh're happy, tha's wha' matters."

"If it's any consolation, there are plenty of empty seats and food", said Hermione.

"Food, eh? Tha' sound like a great idea, Hermione."

"Sorry for crashing your wedding, Harry!" said Colin. "Can we take a picture? Dennis – hurry!"

Harry exchanged looks with Hermione, who surprisingly nodded. "Sure!"

A few pictures were taken, some of only the two of them, some with Ron and bridesmaids – Ron was hard to get into frame since he'd rather keep eating.

More food was consumed, more drinks were had and everyone caught up about everything that was going on.

Harry refrained from mentioning anything about Spider-Man, sticking straightly to the story that he, Ron and Hermione were helping out the Avengers, leaving any reference to him having any kind of superhuman powers out.

"Blimey Harry, yeh got to be more careful!" said Hagrid when he had finished listening to Harry's very selective recounting about – well – everything that had happened for the past weeks. "By now yeh gotta know tha' magic is not a toy."

He knew Hagrid meant well, but being told for the umpteenth how badly he had screwed up was not helping.

"I keep hearing that", said Harry.

"You should've seen him in that Muggle food place!" said Ron, shaking his head in disbelief, chewing messily at a chicken leg. "Bloody hell, one second, he was under the table, the next he was climbing on the ceiling and—ow! What was that for?"

Ron rubbed his leg, furiously glaring at Ginny.

"To make you shut up", said Ginny.

Hagrid glanced suspiciously at Harry. He raised a giant finger and opened his mouth, closed it and instead patted Harry on the back so hard that he almost flew face first into his food plate. "Proud of ye, Harry", he said in a low, almost mumbling tone. "I didn' know."

The only people that were missing now were the rest of the Order and the Avengers, but Hermione told him, "You should appreciate that so many people even took the risk to make all of this happen."

She was right, of course.

Harry did appreciate that people were willing to help them and attend, even if they hadn't been given an invitation.

Finishing up his second plate, Harry doubted that they were going to be able to eat the cake too and not spend several hours in a food coma.

"I don't believe I caught it, but what name do you go by now, Hermione?" asked Percy with a solemn tone in his voice, recoiling slightly at an accidental spill caused by Ron as if it was poison or a very big spider.

Harry suspected his stance at the Ministry had very much gone to his head, though he no longer seemed to have a bone to pick with his parents.

Hermione smiled curiously at Percy. "What do you mean?"

Seeing Ron and Percy next to each other was plainly night and day – one stuffing their face and being all around messy, the other acting like they were having dinner with royalty.

A ways away at one of the other tables sat Cho next to Lavender and Seamus, occasionally glaring at Ron's back, shaking her head. Her eyes hovered past Harry's one time, and the second time, she caught his eyes and waved enthusiastically.

Harry raised his hand, returning her wave and smile.

"Forgive me, of course I meant your surname", said Percy.

Hermione quickly rolled her eyes. "Oh. For all intents and purposes, my surname remains unaffected. But I don't mind being called mrs Potter, either."

Harry almost choked on his pumpkin juice; the night before flashed by his eyes.

She winked at Harry. He felt a slight warm feeling in his face and Hermione smirked. She leaned in towards him and left a quick kiss on his burning cheek.

When everyone had eaten up and discussed plenty, at least two hours later, it was time to cut the multilayered white and sparkling cake that loomed just above Harry's own body height.

But before they could cut, there were apparently speeches to be had. Harry didn't particularly feel like making a speech; mr Weasley had already made such a great speech on everyone else's behalf.

"Do we have to?" Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione.

Ron looked as thrilled as he felt about it. "Bloody hell. Speeches are usually the worst part. Trust me, I've been to more than enough weddings to last me a life time. Good luck though, mate."

Hermione didn't seem to pay attention, instead she was chuckling at something, obviously noticing something Harry didn't.

She poked him in the shoulder, drawing his attention to the very top of the cake.

At the very top of the cake, were two tiny moving miniature Harry and Hermione in their wedding clothes, the miniature Harry holding onto the tiny Hermione's hands and dancing and spinning around, from time to time the small Harry jumped into the air in a very elaborate flip.

Harry shook his head. He couldn't contain himself from smiling, he wondered who had come up with this; it seemed like an idea Ginny would come up with.

Speaking of Ginny, she came towards them, carrying a tray with drinks. She didn't look very pleased about being downgraded from a bridesmaid to a chaperone.

She answered Harry's questioning look as he took a glass each for him and Hermione. "Mum wanted me and Phlegm to serve everyone. Don't ask me why, she just did. There are plenty of people without an annoying dress tripping them, but no."

"I can do it", said Hermione, offering to take the tray from her.

Ginny grimaced and shook her head.

"You're the bride, Hermione, you're supposed to enjoy yourself. As much as you can enjoy yourself being tailed by a certain admirer", she said, her voice trailing off into a whisper. She sniggered and winked at someone in the crowd.

Harry had no idea who she was talking about, but apparently Hermione did hence the same shy look appearing on her face that she'd had during the vows. "Ginny! I'm married! To the only man that matters to me."

Hermione lovingly hugged Harry and placed a kiss on his lips.

"That doesn't mean you can't have a side-piece like Viktor Krum."

Harry scowled. Krum was here?

"Stop", pled Hermione with a laugh, embarrassingly shaking her head. "Don't listen to her, Harry, I— ", her voice faded away into silence, all the chatter and clanging glasses going with it; his spidersense was tickling at the base of his skull.

It was like a silent siren going off in his head, turning off all other sounds except for the blood pumping furiously in his ears.

Harry looked over his shoulder, feeling that someone in the crowddidn't exactly house good intentions towards him; Harry's eyes shot from person to person.

He attempted to spot them, but there were too many people to pinpoint them – they certainly were here, that's for sure.

As Hermione poked Harry on his shoulder, the sound returned to his ears and he lost track of whoever it was in the crowd.

"You okay, Harry?" asked Hermione.

Harry blinked a few times trying to bring himself back to reality. He felt slightly light-headed.

Ginny chuckled. "Sometimes, I don't think Harry lives on a little place I'd like to call Earth."

"No, I suppose not. But I like him as he is", said Hermione. She leaned her head against his shoulder, peering fondly at him – and of course again the Creevey brothers were quick to snap another photo.

A.N: I think I take it back – this is my favorite chapter. And it's a massive one that I had to split into several ones because it was so long, so it's not quite over yet!

It was too much fun writing, researching and just going with the flow.

Honestly, I love writing Harry and Hermione interactions, and the wedding was great to write too even if it's very uncharted territory for me! Hagrid and Fleur are a pain to write dialogue for, but they're both great characters.